- Messages
- 6
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
Greetings from the lower Hudson Valley in New York!
I hope you'll be able to give me some suggestions = I'll try to provide as much info as I can think of....
I am setting up a new 90 gal tank - Fluval Osaka 320 bent glass (48" L x 18" W x 25" H), with a Rena Filstar XP3. It's going to be a planted tank - but I want to select the future inhabitants before getting substrate (most likely a mix of Eco-Complete/relatively small gravel and sand - landscaped with the gravel back and sides and sand more toward the front with pockets jutting towards the rear) and plants so I can provide a better environment for them. Planning on using eucalyptus roots for driftwood and stone for 'caves' and outcroppings.
I currently have a 20gal tank with a common pleco that has outgrown it (now at > 9" )
and 9 Rosy Barbs from multiple generations of spawns - the largest is 3 1/2", the smallest juvenile about 1 1/2". These will all be migrated to the new tank - and the 20g will become a hospital/fry tank.
I'm looking for suggestions as to which apistos, and how many, would be a good "fit" for the above. Given the water chemistry and the existing stock of barbs/pleco, I'm only looking at South Americans.
I was originally considering 'regular' cichlids and was headed down a path of Blue Acara - but my own research and recommendations of others indicate that I'd be limited to a pair. I'd prefer to create more of an 'eco-system' with more fish - ideally different types that would get along. Moving from regular cichlids to dwarfs seemed like a natural progression (and frankly the dwarfs are more colorful and varied!).
The current tank has a well established bio-system, although no live plants. Water parameters as of last night:
pH 7.4
kH 7 - gH 4 (local water supply is brutally hard - untreated it's kH 11/gH 21)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~10 (I'd expect this to reduce naturally in a planted tank)
I currently do ~20% water change weekly - and the tank has been stable for several years (as I said - multiple generations of barbs!).
If needed in the new setup, I can do more frequent water changes - the investment in a Python No-Spill makes it fast and as close to painless as can be.
Hope that sets the stage and thanks in advance for your ideas !
I hope you'll be able to give me some suggestions = I'll try to provide as much info as I can think of....
I am setting up a new 90 gal tank - Fluval Osaka 320 bent glass (48" L x 18" W x 25" H), with a Rena Filstar XP3. It's going to be a planted tank - but I want to select the future inhabitants before getting substrate (most likely a mix of Eco-Complete/relatively small gravel and sand - landscaped with the gravel back and sides and sand more toward the front with pockets jutting towards the rear) and plants so I can provide a better environment for them. Planning on using eucalyptus roots for driftwood and stone for 'caves' and outcroppings.
I currently have a 20gal tank with a common pleco that has outgrown it (now at > 9" )
and 9 Rosy Barbs from multiple generations of spawns - the largest is 3 1/2", the smallest juvenile about 1 1/2". These will all be migrated to the new tank - and the 20g will become a hospital/fry tank.
I'm looking for suggestions as to which apistos, and how many, would be a good "fit" for the above. Given the water chemistry and the existing stock of barbs/pleco, I'm only looking at South Americans.
I was originally considering 'regular' cichlids and was headed down a path of Blue Acara - but my own research and recommendations of others indicate that I'd be limited to a pair. I'd prefer to create more of an 'eco-system' with more fish - ideally different types that would get along. Moving from regular cichlids to dwarfs seemed like a natural progression (and frankly the dwarfs are more colorful and varied!).
The current tank has a well established bio-system, although no live plants. Water parameters as of last night:
pH 7.4
kH 7 - gH 4 (local water supply is brutally hard - untreated it's kH 11/gH 21)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~10 (I'd expect this to reduce naturally in a planted tank)
I currently do ~20% water change weekly - and the tank has been stable for several years (as I said - multiple generations of barbs!).
If needed in the new setup, I can do more frequent water changes - the investment in a Python No-Spill makes it fast and as close to painless as can be.
Hope that sets the stage and thanks in advance for your ideas !